1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-building storage apparatus and a method of taking an article or articles out of the same, both of which make it possible to store articles in a storage space such as an attic and an underfloor.
2. Background Art
Since a room can have a limited space therein, there has been made an attempt in which an underfloor storage unit including a storage container is installed in an opening space below a floor equipped with a cover for opening and closing the opening space and for putting articles into the opening space therethrough or taking articles out of the opening space therethrough, in order to effectively make use of a dead space. However, since the underfloor storage unit is designed to merely have a storage container, a storage volume is limited to a volume capable of being stored in the storage container. Thus, there has been developed an in-building storage apparatus capable of increasing a storage volume by designing a plurality of storage containers to be selectively taken out. Such an in-building storage apparatus has been suggested in the patent references 1 to 3, for instance.
The underfloor storage apparatus suggested in the patent reference 1 comprises two rails formed in an underfloor space and extending in parallel with each other, a floor being partially open, a plurality of frames each having rollers so as to be able to move along the two rails independently of one another, a plurality of storage containers suspended on each of the frames, and a storage container mounted on an elevator.
The underfloor storage unit suggested in the patent reference 2 comprises rails extending to cover a position situated below a floor opening which is caused to be open or closed by means of a cover, a carriage designed to be able to controllably run on the rails, and include an elevator which can be controlled to move upwardly and downwardly, a storage case formed with a flange to be suspended, and L-shaped hanger pairs arranged at a suspending interval at a terminating end of a travelling path of the carriage, remote from the floor opening.
In the in-building storage unit suggested in the patent reference 3, when an article lying on a floor is stored into the unit, a container or an article is lowered through an entrance/exit onto a receiver unit of a carriage, and the carriage is driven to run in a path section. When the container reaches a target empty receiver, the receiver unit is operated for delivering the container to the empty receiver.